Even more than the blind Zatoichi, Kyoshiro Nemuri, thelone-wolf full-moon swordsman, is darkly estranged from the mainstream ofTokugawa society. As portrayed by Raizo Ichikawa throughout the sixties, thisauburn-haired Eurasian casts himself as the antihero, a brooding existentialisthaunted by his rootlessness. Nemuri resists any attempt to glorify theswordsmanship for which he is renowned; nevertheless, the films are a swordplaybuff's delight. The question, "What's your style?" precedes any duel.Nemuri's style is the Engetsu or "full moon cut"; no one has survivedthe completion of the arc, which has as much to do with the "fatal inwarddraw" of his obsession as with anything else. Here he is shadowed by fiveenemies, each with his own style, in a delightfully detailed Edo period setting.Stylized, gorgeous color cinematography does more than bring out Nemuri's redhighlights; it helps distance us, like Nemuri, from any strayemotions.